


It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

by Asterhythm



Category: D4DJ First Mix (Anime), D4DJ Groovy Mix (Video Game)
Genre: Based off the anime, Character Analysis, Christmas, Episode 7 brainrot, F/F, One-Sided KyoRin, Snow, Unrequited KyoShino
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28351002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asterhythm/pseuds/Asterhythm
Summary: Set post-episode 7 of the anime. After their Christmas party set, Peaky P-key discuss their special guest.
Relationships: Aimoto Rinku/Yamate Kyouko, Inuyose Shinobu/Yamate Kyouko
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting in a new fandom, so -- *bows* Supporting One Dream! Mysterious anonymous Asterhythm is here!
> 
> I have been WAITING to write for D4DJ ever since it got announced (I'm a HUGE Bandori stan who leans toward EDM in their own compositional process fufu). And after watching episodes 7 and 8 of the anime, I had this sneak into the back of my head. It's not much, but I'm getting more ideas of other things I can write. 
> 
> I have been a rarepair shipper ever since I started writing on FF.net more than a decade ago, which is why Kyoko/Rinku has struck me as something I want to write. (I am not married to one ship, though -- I will literally write ANYTHING.) The new episodes gave me some good inspiration. I had fun writing this little thing, and I hope you like it. 
> 
> Side note: I have NOT had the chance to play Gurumiku yet because I'm stuck on my iPad waiting for the English version to come out. Please let me know if I should remove this fic from the Gurumiku tag; I'm leaving it for now since the consensus seems to be to tag both. (I CANNOT wait to write for Merm4id -- they already cameo heavily in another work I'm writing -- but I need to play the game first.)

_ It Came Upon The Midnight Clear  
Genre: Oneshot/Character Analysis  
Word Count: 1632  
Band: Peaky P-Key  
Ship: one-sided Rinko/KyoRin; unrequited Shinoko/KyoShino  
Written: December 26, 2020  
_ _ Spice Alert: None _

After Peaky P-key’s Christmas party, the “afterparty” was held at Shinobu’s studio.

“Kanpai!” Esora and Yuka yelled as they uncapped a bottle of sparkling grape juice. They shared glasses and picked from an entire array of healthy snacks, chosen by Yuka and provided by Esora with help from her family. The only sweet item on the menu was a box of cookies that Kyoko had brought. They ate together as Shinobu’s computer system played a mix of EDM-style Christmas songs in the background. 

“What did you think of the live, Shinobu-chan?” Esora asked.

“Set list was good. Mix was good. Wish we could have added that new track.” Shinobu was in the process of creating a new song; the compositional material was done, but the mix was  _ not  _ playing nice. Every time she tried to play it back on her speakers, the balance was all wrong. 

“Ahh, that’s too bad. We’ll have it ready to go by the next concert, though.” Kyoko sipped on her own glass of grape juice. “I think…” Her mind trailed off for a moment, thinking back to the Christmas live. It had been Kyoko’s crazy plan to have a guest artist perform with them on their biggest, most hype track of the night. She had, of course, asked the others if it was okay first, and Esora and Yuka had been ecstatic. This special guest was a super fan who knew all of the dance moves and lyrics to every P-key song, but who  _ also  _ was becoming a performer in her own right. It couldn’t go wrong, as long as she attended the Christmas party live and Kyoko could call her out of the audience.

_ “Rinku-chan! Are you here?” _

Then, Shinobu spoke, softly. “I’m surprised you didn’t invite that new girl to the afterparty.”

“Oh, Aimoto-san?” Yuka asked. “I could see that. She did perform on stage with us. Perhaps she should have brought her friends with her.”

“But these afterparties are exclusive to us,” Esora said. “We may show whatever we want to on the stage during our party, but after the music is done, it’s just the four of us. Especially at Christmas.”

“I agree.” Kyoko was deep in thought for a moment.  _ Peaky P-key is the four of us.  _ But then again, Kyoko had once said  _ it is the two of us  _ when she and Shinobu had first started as a duo. The brand had evolved by adding both Esora and Yuka. Could it evolve further by adding Rinku long-term?  _ No,  _ she thought to herself. Tonight had been amazing, but it was a one-off performance. Rinku belonged with her own DJ group, with the shy DJ who wasn’t fully sure of her skills yet and the ditzy keyboardist and the rabbit-eared VJ who was only second to Rinku in commanding an audience. 

Kyoko knew what this felt like.  _ It felt like a rivalry.  _ The other members of Rinku’s group were fine, but once they had all been united by their leader, they made a musical force to be reckoned with. It was a completely different sound than Peaky P-key, more happy hardcore than electropop. But whenever Kyoko had stopped by to see one of Happy Around’s sets, she had felt inspired to do more with her own group, perform a new song, have Yuka put together a new graphics package. She wanted the two of them to perform together in a set, have the audience compare the two groups, each raising the tension even higher until the audience was screaming for more.

She didn’t necessarily want one of them to win. But it sounded amusing nonetheless.

Esora left before long, called home by her parents, leaving the food behind for the others. Yuka left next, leaving Kyoko and Shinobu alone. Even just a short while ago, Kyoko would have been nervous at this arrangement, but things already hurt less. Kyoko had had a crush on Shinobu for practically the entire time they had known each other, and it had been well known to both Esora and Yuka. Kyoko had kept her mouth shut so it wouldn’t affect the group’s musical dynamic, but Shinobu had confronted her about it one day.

“You like me?”

“Um…” Kyoko had been caught between a rock and a hard place. “Maybe?”

“Oh.” There had been a silence, and then, “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ll ever like anybody like that.”

And Kyoko had drowned herself in all thirty one flavors of Baskin Robbins while composing at least five break-up tracks that would never see the light of day. But then the new school year had started, and with it came an energy she still couldn’t describe in words. 

“Kyoko.” That was Shinobu for you, when it came to Kyoko. She was so close to Kyoko that she didn’t even need formalities. If Shinobu could feel romance, Kyoko was  _ certain  _ they would be together. Kyoko was Shinobu’s entire world...except for  _ that.  _

“Mmhmm?”

“I wasn’t going to say anything while they were here. You like her, don’t you? Aimoto-san.”

“Like?” Kyoko paused, thought it over. The way Kyoko felt about Rinku was different than the way she had once felt about Shinobu. Shinobu had been Kyoko’s guiding star -- still was, in a way -- whereas Rinku and Happy Around felt more like a rival. Kyoko certainly respected Rinku, but did she  _ like  _ her?

Well. Nobody knew Kyoko better than Shinobu. “I don’t understand.”

“Think about it. You’re always talking about her to us. About this thing or that thing that she did at her live shows, or how you saw her running down the hall, or the conversation you got to have with her in the lunchroom. Earlier today you were talking about how her uniform ribbon was untied. Normal people don’t notice those little things about one another.” Shinobu smirked. “That’s all.”

Kyoko paused again, remembering how Rinku’s ribbon had been untied, and how she had stopped her in the hall to re-tie it. She hadn’t blushed at the time, but she was now, remembering the wide-eyed look on Rinku’s face and the huge, happy-go-lucky “thank you!” she had received in return. 

“If I like her,” Kyoko tentatively said, “it’s not the same way that I liked you.”

“So what? It doesn’t have to be. You probably still like me, and that’s okay, even though nothing will come of it. I want for you to be happy. You’re my best friend, after all. I can make music on my own forever, but you make my days...well, peaky.” They both laughed after that, and Kyoko packed her things and started to head home. 

When Kyoko exited Shinobu’s home, she noticed it had started snowing outside. Light fluffy flakes fell from the sky like sakura petals. There wasn’t enough to stick, but it made for a nice atmosphere as Kyoko walked alone down the short road to her house. 

_ Think about it. You’re always talking about her to us.  _ Had Kyoko talked about Shinobu that much to her friends back then? No, not at all. Shinobu had been like a secret. Rinku was too  _ loud  _ to be a secret, and Kyoko chuckled at that revelation.  _ Too peaky.  _ Both Kyoko’s compositional style and Shinobu’s personality could be compared to the levels on a decibel meter, both way high up in the red, over the +6 db recommended for a digital audio workstation. If you got that high, the sound would come out all distorted. This was why Kyoko didn’t work on the final mix for any of P-key’s music. It was also why Shinobu often got called  _ harsh  _ by others, preferring to hide behind her DJ decks instead of having conversations with others. 

Rinku’s noise -- her personality, her musicality -- didn’t strike Kyoko as  _ peaky  _ at all. It was right at the center, at the 0 db mark, coming in loud and clear at a solid volume. 

Whenever she spun around in a circle yelling “Happy Around!” to nobody in particular. When she ate her lunch way too quickly at school. During those moments when she had culture shock due to living in Africa for so long. And, of course, every moment she was on stage. Rinku wore music like a blanket, wrapping it around her, then extending that warmth to anybody in her audience. It was part of what had made P-key’s performance of  _ Big Bang  _ during their concert so amazing. Kyoko didn’t need all the comments online to tell her she was onto something special.

_ What if nobody had been in the audience? Would I have still invited Rinku to perform?  _ Kyoko nodded to herself, looking up at the snow.  _ Yes. I would have, if only to experience that smile on her face again.  _

Kyoko loved what were called  _ power spots: _ natural places where you could literally feel the energy in the place, like at shrines and in parks. But here, she felt for a moment like she was in her own power spot, standing outside her house, watching the snow fall, thinking about the mysterious transfer student who brought a perfectly balanced sound to her life.  _ Happy, all around.  _

Yeah, perhaps Shinobu had figured her out. After all, Shinobu only wanted Kyoko to be happy. 

She removed her snapback and held it in her hands, looking back up at the snow that was still falling down. Despite the snow, something inside of her felt warm, warmer than it had in a long time. With one last smile, she turned, skipping up to her door and letting herself in. Perhaps it had been a weird Christmas miracle that Happy Around hadn’t found a venue for their own Christmas party. 

The world had not been solemn or still during Kyoko and Rinku’s performance, but that night, everybody had heard an angel sing. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yell at me on Twitter @aster_rhythm
> 
> (side note: I mostly write for K-Pop RPF, but my rabid days are long over)


End file.
